Saints take on Newcastle United at St Mary's this weekend for a game which is a six pointer in the race for 8th place in the Premier League.

It was a tale of injury time goals for Saints this weekend and the two crucial goals both went against us, the first up at St James Park saw Newcastle sneak a couple of extra points and then the second at White Hart Lane robbed Saints of a point, without those goals Saints would now sit 8th in the table two points ahead of the Geordies knowing that a win on Saturday would send us 5 points clear of them, even with a game in hand, that would be a big gap for Newcastle to make up.

But the goals didnt go for us at the weekend so it is Saints with the mountain to climb if they are to overhaul the Toon and come the end of the season emulate their highest ever position in the Premier League, the 8th that Gordon Strachan achieved in 2002/03 alongside an FA Cup Final appearance, unarguably our best season in the Premier League ever.

Now a Saints win against Alan Pardew's side will still only see us with a slight advantage and that could be only temporary if Newcastle win the game in hand, so this fixture on Saturday is shaping up to be the most important game of the season as we reach the business end, put bluntly and we are still in the hunt for that 8th spot although higher than that looks out of reach, lose it though and we are probably waving goodbye to 8th as Newcastle would then be 4 points clear and still with that game in hand, in fact if we lose then we could also be looking over our shoulder a little.

Of course 9th place would have been a dream for most Saints fans at the start of the season although as many had their heads turned with talk of Champions League Qualification from certain quarters, that it will seem a bit of a disapointment.

What we dont want though is the season to peter out, we want to keep the interest going to the end, from that aspect its vital we beat Newcastle and look to secure that 8th spot, in the grand scheme of things its not a big difference, but the significance could be massive, it is always good to finish a season on a high as it whets the appetite for next term.

Photo: Action Images

SaintlyTim added 09:48 - Mar 24 Yes, and the higher we finish, the more likely we will be able to attract quality signings.
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halftimeorange added 12:32 - Mar 24 It seemed to me that the summer holiday season had firmly arrived yesterday. Many of our players just aren't putting enough into their games. I never thought I'd see Lovren be so cavalier as he was against Spurs. Even Lallana seemed to run out of steam as he also did against Norwich. We are definitely a one half team, normally the first half. People talk about Plan B and there is one - Ramires is supposed to provide it - but, he's simply too lightweight for Premier League football, often loses possession and fails to accurately execute his often clever ideas. Our addressable problems are obvious:- If you are going to play Lambert then play to his strengths - give him crosses to attack Either tell Shaw to play as an out and out winger or stick to his defensive duties Insist that Boruc does not pass the ball out to any defender while the opposition is close to them Replace Fonte with a more competent partner for Lovren Simple, isn't it?

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SanMarco added 12:33 - Mar 24 Is finishing 8th rather than 9th really going to attract better players SaintlyTim? This season IS petering out whether we like it or not. We are safe and I for one wish we had a semi final against Sheff Utd to look forward to...
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BoondockSaint added 12:49 - Mar 24 Right you are, Halftime! And, I might add, insist that no player passes the ball back to Boruc unless there are no oppostion players in our half!
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simmo400 added 13:05 - Mar 24 Spurs game showed that we need to defend after doing the hard work and getting two goals up. I think our ENGLAND hopefulls were trying to hard to impress ROY and not working hard enough for SAINTS to get the 3 points.
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SaintNick added 16:39 - Mar 24 Hard on Boruc who generally has been very good on passing the ball
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zonehead added 20:35 - Mar 24 I think were suffering the cosequenses of our high energy pressing game coming towardsthe end of the season, ierunning out of puff
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GeordieSaint added 20:45 - Mar 24 Derby time! Sunday was pretty depressing but come on everybody, cheer up. Loads of top young English players in the squad, pretty possession football, clear of relegation by Christmas. Give Pochetino a break, he is still young and learning the trade, good thrashing on the way for the toon. They are really not that good. Also, it has been a while since since the Saints had the most skilful English player around, I could watch Lallana do step overs all day.

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davepid added 07:55 - Mar 25 Geordie Saint . Yes you are right on two counts. Yes, we have lots of positives to take from this season so far. That doesn't stop us wanting to finish as high up as possible though. And secondly ,Mp is still learning his trade . We'll I think it time he learnt it elsewhere .
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cheltenhamsaint added 22:40 - Mar 26 If we finish 8th we win £1.25 million more prize money than if we finish 9th. This funds the academy for 6 months plus and releases this money for investment in the squad. By playing attractive football that is pleasing to the eye we have been added 4 times to the tv schedule (Liverpool, Spurs, Man City, Everton). This is another £1.2m All in all, we will be expecting a cheque of around £75m to £80m in the summer (and no this will not be our summer transfer budget!) But everything we have done this year - our passing game, emphasis on youth and English players, punching above our (current) weight, even losing two goal leads on tv - has added brand value to the media, tv companies and prospective playing recruits. This translates, over a season or two, to some serious financial clout to allow the team push the next level of clubs above us. MP is a genius to get so much in such a short space of time on limited resources. I look at clubs currently above us and they are only prepared to work with the finished articled article (at Chelsea the youngest English player is Cahill at 28 and the last player to come through the academy was Terry, now 33). At Arsenal, where Wenger is perceived as playing youth, only Wiltshire came through their academy. Before that it was Ashley Cole. Man City have none. Man Utd a couple (maybe if we still include Giggs at 40). Everton have Barkley and Spurs...............not sure but they spent £110m on players last summer. Pottechino is a genius

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